Phillip is obviously our designated One You Love To Hate. He honestly thinks if he says "I was a federal agent" often enough, everyone is going to follow his lead without question. "When I speak, you listen" -- ha! Ticket to the island, Phil baby.

Yeah, he expects everybody to bend over for him. Kristina had a few bad moments when she got three votes after deciding not to play her immunity idol. They just got there and she's already telling people she found the idol -- what's with that?

That was an especially dumb move, telling she had the idol that early. They barely know each other's names yet. The idol's been used as a bargaining chip in the last couple of games, and Kristina must have thought she was doing the smart thing. She won't be around long.

I felt like cheering when Francesca spoke up and called Jeff on his statement that Boston Rob and Russell were there to help. If those two sleazeballs were there as advisors and were not competing for the million dollars, THEN they'd be there to help. Unfortunately, speaking up was Francesca's undoing. The only way she'll stay in the game now is if she defeats every other person voted out, and the glimpses we got of the "duels" looked pretty physical.

On the whole I don't care much for USA's fluff series -- White Collar, Royal Pains, Fairly Legal. So when that last one came on after an NCIS rerun, I started to turn the TV off but saw a familiar face that made me stop. It belonged to Brian Markinson, whom I've mentioned here as one of those good actors who will never be stars. I saw him first on SG-1, then on Da Vinci's Inquest, where he had a recurring role. I think the last time I saw him was on Caprica in another recurring role -- he played the agent investigating the bombing that started the plot rolling. So I watched the whole episode of Fairly Legal; this time he played a man who suffered a head injury when hit by a truck and who underwent a deep personality change as a result.

Then in the last sequence of the episode, a new character was introduced, a man the heroine (Kate) had been looking for, a friend of her late father. I didn't recognize him at first, but it was Richard Dean Anderson. Seeing him again was both a pleasure and a shock. He is truly showing his age now. That narrow face of his is no more; I think he must still be on cortisone. He and Markinson acted together in the SG-1 episode, but not in this one. Google says RDA has signed on for a four- or five-episode story arc.

Then just to round things out, Kate's ex is played by Michael Trucco, who was Sam Anders in BSG, the resistance leader Starbuck married. USA owns SyFy, so they're both dipping into the same pool of actors. But I'm glad RDA is back in front of the camera, even if it is only for a short stint.

I didn't recognize either RDA or Michael Trucco, but I did remember Brian Markinson! Like Rita, I thought RDA was just an old guy sitting at the bar. I'll be watching the rest of this arc for sure. I like Kate, and the show is interesting when she is on the job. But when she's not, it's rather silly. The only original USA series that had any meat on its bones was In Plain Sight, but that hasn't been on in a long time. Has it been cancelled?